22 Jul 04. DRS Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: DRS) announced during Farnborough that it has been awarded three new contracts with a combined valued of approximately $7.3m to provide rugged computers, flat panel rugged displays and installation kits for several ground and soldier systems applications, as well as provide logistics services for the Nimrod Maritime and Reconnaissance (MR)2 aircraft Link 11 tactical data link. Work for these awards will be performed by the company’s DRS Tactical Systems Ltd. unit in Farnham, Surrey, the United Kingdom.
“These awards recognize DRS as a international market leader in high-performance, rugged computers and displays for a variety of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) applications supporting battlefield digitization,” said Steven T. Schorer, president of DRS’s C4I Group. “DRS’s strong track record for innovative design and proven performance, combined with our reputation for product quality, reliability and timely delivery, continue to provide us with opportunities to participate in next-generation, battlefield command information system programs.”
Genesis™ Rugged Multi-Platform Computers and Flat Panel Displays
The first award was a new contract from the Hellenic Aerospace Industry S.A. (HAI), located in Tanagra, near Athens, Greece, to perform a major upgrade for the Hermes 2, the Hellenic Army’s main battle-zone communication system. For this award, DRS will manufacture and deliver Genesis™ Rugged Multi-Platform Computers and associated 15-inch flat panel displays for the command and control (C2) system of the Hellenic First Army. The system is expected to provide improved communications functionality, including automatic message switching, packet switching and highly flexible mobile subscriber access to Greek air defense systems. Hermes 2 replaces the existing Apollo system. Product deliveries are expected to continue through May 2005.
DRS’s rugged computer systems are designed to perform in hostile land, sea and airborne environments. The Genesis™ is one of many systems in a line of rugged
computer platforms from DRS that delivers the advantages of proven, low-risk, rugged Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS)-based equipment and are deployed by defense forces worldwide. DRS’s Flat Panel, Rugged (FPR) class of mission-critical, military computer peripherals carries a strong history of proven fielding performance, including complete compliance with all necessary technological and environmental requirements.
BOWMAN Installation Kits
The second contract was awarded to DRS by General Dynamics United Kingdom Ltd., a unit of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD) headquartered in Oakdale, South Wales, the United Kingdom. For this award, DRS will provide more than 4,000 installation kits for digital battlefield applications supporting British armed forces under the United Kingdom’s BOWMAN program. These kits will be installed on the Vehicle User Data Terminal (VUDT) and the Dismountable User Data Terminal (DUDT) versions of DRS’s ScorpionTM rugged portable notebook computers supplied by DRS Tactical Systems in Palm Bay, Florida. The kits will be installed on every tracked and wheeled vehicle in the British Army’s fleet, including the Warrior, Scimiter, Challenger 2 and Stormer. Product deliveries are expected to begin immediately and continue through December 2004.
The BOWMAN program will provide a land-based C2 system that will be the infrastructure to support all digitization applications over the next 30 years. The BOWMAN program ultimately will equip approximately 20,000 army vehicles and 70,000 service personnel and is the largest defense communications program in the U.K. in over 50 years.
Nimrod Link 11 Logistics Services
The second contract was awarded to DRS by Aerosystems International Ltd. in Yeovil, Somerset, the United Kingdom. For this award, DRS will p